Published: July 31, 2009 01:30 pm      

Volunteers sought to help restore rare Northern Indiana wetland

CHESTERTON — State wildlife officials are looking for volunteers to help restore a rare Northern Indiana wetland area damaged by an invasive plant.

Indiana’s Division of Nature Preserves and the Save the Dunes Council are spearheading the restoration of the Suman Fen Nature Preserve in northern Porter County.

But they need volunteers to help replant and reseed native plants in the preserve midway between Chesterton and Valparaiso. One such replanting will be held Saturday at the preserve, which is one of Indiana’s best examples of a fen — a type of wetland fed by ground water.

Twenty-two acres of the preserve had been infested with an invasive European plant called reed canary grass. That land is now in need of replanting after being successfully treated with herbicides to kill the invasive grass.